From ranking algorithms to 'ranking cultures': investigating the modulation of visibility in YouTube search results
Rieder, Bernhard (University of Amsterdam)
Matamoros Fernández, Ariadna (Queensland University of Technology)
Coromina, Òscar (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)

Data:	2018
Resum:	Algorithms, as constitutive elements of online platforms, are increasingly shaping everyday sociability. Developing suitable empirical approaches to render them accountable and to study their social power has become a prominent scholarly concern. This article proposes an approach to examine what an algorithm does, not only to move closer to understanding how it works, but also to investigate broader forms of agency involved. To do this, we examine YouTube's search results ranking over time in the context of seven sociocultural issues. Through a combination of rank visualizations, computational change metrics and qualitative analysis, we study search ranking as the distributed accomplishment of 'ranking cultures'. First, we identify three forms of ordering over time - stable, 'newsy' and mixed rank morphologies. Second, we observe that rankings cannot be easily linked back to popularity metrics, which highlights the role of platform features such as channel subscriptions in processes of visibility distribution. Third, we find that the contents appearing in the top 20 results are heavily influenced by both issue and platform vernaculars. YouTube-native content, which often thrives on controversy and dissent, systematically beats out mainstream actors in terms of exposure. We close by arguing that ranking cultures are embedded in the meshes of mutually constitutive agencies that frustrate our attempts at causal explanation and are better served by strategies of 'descriptive assemblage'.
Drets:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Llengua:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Matèria:	Algorithms ; Controversies ; Descriptive assemblage ; Digital methods ; Methodology ; Platforms ; Ranking ; YouTube
Publicat a:	Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, Vol. 24 Núm. 1 (2018) , p. 50-68, ISSN 1748-7382

DOI: 10.1177/1354856517736982

19 p, 714.8 KB

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